Spotlight on Business Energy Broker Tim Sealy-Fisher

Business energy broker Tim Sealy-Fisher is focused on building end-to-end energy solutions for sustainable business growth. He is Head of Compliance at Smarter Business.

With over 18 years’ experience covering numerous responsibilities in the UK and New Zealand energy markets, Tim’s diverse knowledge and passion for the development of the industry is second to none. He has used this well-rounded experience within our company to provide significant value to both the business and our customers.

Tim says: “As businesses in the UK, we are moving into an era where energy costs are being determined by businesses and users ourselves, more than by supply companies. Our aim as a business energy broker is to assist businesses in this journey in an over-complicated market, whose reputation has not always been about putting the customer first. At Smarter Business, we are committed and dedicated to engaging with our customers to secure them the best savings.”

Managing customers’ exposure to volatile market prices

Tim has ensured that all flexible contracts under his care have benefitted from cheaper prices than the wholesale day-ahead price for the last four years. He has personally saved his portfolio of customers over £1 000 000 in energy costs, while continuing to monitor and recommend improvements across their utilities.

Implementing energy analysis and pricing systems

Thanks to Tim’s focus on identifying energy efficiencies, our customers receive complementary reporting to support the contracts that we have provided. With an up-to-date view of our customers’ portfolios, we are able to work together to assess opportunities for savings on an ongoing basis.

Tim was also the lead on a project to develop a pricing platform, enabling staff and customers immediate access to the industry’s best energy prices.

Securing savings of £900 000 for a customer

By taking the time to understand the unique needs of Essex County Laundry, Tim was able to apply his industry expertise to secure massive savings for the energy-intensive laundry service business.

Essex County Laundry Managing Director says:

“Tim’s expertise in managing and tendering contracts enabled us to enter into a new trading arrangement that enabled better use of the wholesale market, which resulted in significant savings of around £900,000. He engaged with us to understand our business and energy requirements, enabling a contract to be structured which provides ongoing savings.

He re-tendered with other suppliers that better suited our needs. He also validated our invoices on a monthly basis and, to date, he has found errors in billing amounting to £34,000, which he managed to claim back for us.

Tim is in regular contact with us through face-to-face meetings and provides a complete corporate energy procurement service for us which involves monitoring the market and purchasing gas daily as well as cost-forecasting for each financial year. He is very good at keeping us up-to-date and provides constant updates on what he expects our costs to be.”

An expert eye on the future of energy

Tim predicts that we will enter into a period of uncertainty in the next two years. This will cause a wide range of prices across energy contracts.

Already, medium-term gas prices (which contribute to nearly 50% of the power generation mix) have seen a surge of late due to continued civil unrest in the Middle East; and Brent Crude Oil prices (to which the UK long-term gas price is indexed) have seen a steady resurgence since the 10-year low in January 2016. Prices are likely to continue on this path with the lead up to the proposed public listing of oil giant Saudi Aramco in late 2018.

Locally, the closure of the rough storage facility has left the UK further exposed to international influences, particularly in the winter when UK gas demand is high. The facility previously accounted for 70% of local gas storage. The impacts of this closure were felt throughout winter, when wholesale within day prices spiked to over 230p/therm (nearly 8p/kWh) as the reality of our reliance on this storage hit home.

By 2020 that, it’s likely that half-hourly metered electricity invoices will be made up of at least 65% non-wholesale electricity costs, attributed to the delivery of electricity and government-imposed levies.

The introduction of further electricity levies to support the UK’s commitment to its carbon targets, coupled with increases in charges in peak periods* will continue to open the door for innovation in products that encourage demand side management. Ultimately, customers who can reduce energy consumption or provide generation in peak periods will begin to see significant savings.

* Peak periods differ throughout regions in the UK. Broadly speaking peak periods can be defined as between 16:00-19:00 on weekdays where customers with half-hourly meters can pay up to 150% more for the total delivered cost of electricity during these times.